The Hacker News | #1 Trusted Source for Cybersecurity News — Index Page

Whenever you go to Buy any Electronic Gadget — Phone, Tablet, Laptop, Watch — the most important specification isn't its processor speed or its camera quality. It's how long the device's battery backup is. Imagine easy access to such batteries that provide more battery power after charging it once, do not give up in less time and have a life of many years. To achieve this, the researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Samsung , have developed a new material that could potentially revolutionize the Battery industry. Researchers have solved all these Battery issues with just one weird practical approach, called Solid-State Electrolytes . Today the cells we depend on contain Liquid-State Electrolyte , the researchers thought of replacing the one with a Solid form of electrolyte. Solid-State Electrolytes could simultaneously address the greatest challenges associated with improving lithium-ion batteries (LIB) , with the possibility to increas...

A Critical vulnerability discovered in Mozilla's popular Bugzilla bug-tracking software , used by hundreds of thousands of prominent software organizations, could potentially expose details of their non-public security vulnerabilities to the Hackers. So it's time for developers and organizations that use Bugzilla open source bug tracking system to upgrade to the latest patched versions – namely 5.0.1, 4.4.10, or 4.2.15 . Bugzilla is a vulnerability database used by Mozilla as well as many open-source projects and private organizations. Besides patched flaws, these databases also contain sensitive information related to unpatched vulnerabilities reported to organizations. Unfortunately, the researchers at security firm PerimeterX have discovered a vulnerability ( CVE-2015-4499 ) in Bugzilla's email-based permissions process that allowed them to gain high-level permissions on Bugzilla. As a result, it is potentially possible for an attacker to easily access u...

iOS 9 is out, and it's time to update your iPhone or iPad to the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system. The new iOS is better, faster, and more efficient than its predecessors, with a number of new features and improvements including enhanced multitasking for iPad, Proactive Assistant Siri, new Low Power mode, Transit directions in Maps and many more. You need to download iOS 9 right away. But, after installing it on your iOS device, you should immediately change these security settings to protect your privacy. Besides various new features, iOS 9 also comes with a handful of security and privacy improvements. So, before doing anything like loading new apps, customizing your phone, or syncing your data, you need to check these settings – and if necessary, changed. 1. Locking the Door Boost iOS 9 Security by Setting a Longer 6-digit Passcode When you set up an iOS device, you are asked to create a passcode to encrypt your entire iPho...

The Existing Infrastructure used by Financial institutions like Banks is Archaic, Slow, and Costly, with hardly any innovation in the past three decades. Nine of the World's renowned Banks, including JPMorgan , Royal Bank of Scotland , Goldman Sachs and Barclays , are collaborating with New York-based financial tech firm R3 to create a new framework based on Bitcoin's Blockchain. Yes, they are back in the game yet again, but this time officially! Blockchain — the public and decentralized ledger technology that underpins all Bitcoin transactions has been now recognized as " the future for financial services infrastructure ". The blockchain technology is a way of keeping records by listing the owner's name with all the previous and present transaction the client was involved. It is a public ledger where a list of all the transactions ever executed is maintained. The Banks are planning to develop and implement Blockchain-like Technology where distributed/shared ...

Mandiant , a FireEye sister concern has been involved in researches related to cyber defense. In their recent findings, a backdoor malware named SYNful Knock identified as the one compromising the principles of Cisco routers with features such as... ...Having an everlasting effect, i.e. Serious Persistence. What?- The malicious program is implanted in the router illicitly through the device's firmware (regardless of the vendor). The goal is achieved by modifying the router's firmware image, which exists even after the device gets a reboot. How?- installing SYNful Knock in Cisco 1841 router, Cisco 2811 router, and Cisco 3825 router. Affected areas- 14 instances in 4 countries including India, Mexico, Ukraine, and the Philippines. Impact- the backdoor is backed up with such abilities that can compromise the availability of other hosts and access to sensitive data in an organization. " The theoretical nature of router-focused attacks created a minds...

Recently, Microsoft issued an Emergency patch for a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer that is being exploited to deploy Korplug malware on vulnerable PCs. Korplug , a known variant of PlugX , is a Trojan that creates a backdoor used for information stealing on infected computers. In one of the most publicized cases, an evangelical church in Hong Kong was compromised to deliver the malware. Attackers were able to breach the church's website and inject a malicious iFrame overlay designed to look like the site itself. The iFrame was then used to redirect visitors to a site hosting the IE exploit . Once users land on the website, they are served a java.html which installs Korplug on their computers. To defend against Korplug, system administrators, and security engineers should educate users of corporate assets about these types of hacking techniques. In many cases, organizations are breached because of the lack of internal education around how to ident...